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Colonization and Civil Government 

in the Tropics. 



— 


M’ 


Address deeivered 
SAMUEL Iv. PARRISH 
AT THE ANNUAE MEETING OF THE 

SUFFOLK COUNTY 

HEED AT RlVERHEAD, NEW YORK, 
February 17, 1903 


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A 







COLONIZATION AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN 

THE TROPICS. 


To anyone at all given to philosophic reflection 
there can be found no more fascinating employment 
for the mind than the study of the underlying causes 
which lead to the supremacy and decay of States. 
But in tracing from their source the rivulets and 
streams of tendency until they combine to make the 
mighty current that is ever hurrying on to the ocean 
of human failure and accomplishment, the student of 
history must be ever on his guard lest he confound the 
eddies and the whirlpools with the direction of the 
current itself. 

In this paper I propose to confine myself, so far as 
possible, to the observation of what I conceive to be 
the current. 

When, however, on May 1st, 1898, the American 
navy, in a few hours, had annihilated forever the 
power of Spain in the eastern hemisphere, it was, 
I think, evident, even to the wayfaring man, that one 
of the great turning points in history had been 
reached. For then it was that the American people, 
literally over night and without warning, found them¬ 
selves confronted with the most intricate problems, 
colonial and domestic, that any nation, without ante- 



2 


cedent thought or preparation, has ever been called 
upon to solve. 

Suddenly, against our will, and in direct opposition 
to our traditional policy, well settled since the founda¬ 
tion of the government, we then became unquestion¬ 
ably a so-called world power, of necessity exposed to 
the dangers, and subject to the obligations, which are 
implied in the name. 

Well do we all remember the excitement following 
the arrival of the news of the victory in Manila Bay. 
Outside of a few dealers in cigars and traders in hemp, 
there was hardly one man in ten, if so many, at that 
time in the United States, to whom the Philippine 
Islands were anything more than a vague geographical 
expression. 

Maps and encyclopedias were, however, forthwith 
hastily consulted, and in a few days it became 
known to millions of bewildered American citizens 
that the United States of America had become 
responsible before the civilized world for the future 
disposition of about eight millions of Asiatics, ranging 
from a condition of barbarism to that of semi-civiliza¬ 
tion, inhabiting a tropical country divided into some 
fifteen hundred islands, with an area somewhat larger 
than the whole of New England and the States of New 
York and New Jerse} 7 combined. 

History can be searched in vain for even a remote 
parallel to the situation which then rapidly developed 
before the astonished gaze of the American people, and, 
as our knowledge of the actual conditions increased, the 
greater became our perplexity as to the wisest course 
to pursue. 

We were an agricultural, industrial, and commercial 
republic, essentially peaceful in character, aim, and pur¬ 
pose, and anxious only to develop our own magnificent 


'hrv.-, Til \ ^ ^ ^ . 



3 


domain, within the temperate zone, on our own lines, 
apart from the political and territorial rivalries of the 
rest of the world. 

Our system of government was moreover founded 
upon certain principles of political liberty which 
the uninterrupted experience of mankind had 
demonstrated as possible only to a certain highly 
favored section of the Caucasian race, but, in spite of 
all, the fact remained that as the result of the 
Spanish war we became the unwilling but imperative 
guardians of millions of the helpless children of the 
tropics. 

Their ignorance of our more recent history, and 
reformed institutions, made them but too ready 
to believe that we came to them only in a spirit 
of insolent conquest, to repeat on Philippine soil 
the shameful story of Cortez and Pizarro in Mexico 
and Peru. Nor were there wanting among the leaders 
and men of education, first of Spanish and, later, after 
the fall of Spain, of Malay blood, those who, with 
some show of reason, pointed to our treatment of the 
North American Indian as a dreadful warning of the 
fate they themselves might expect, should the heretic 
sovereignty of the United States be finally proclaimed, 
and permanently maintained, in the Philippine Islands.* 

These sentiments, born of a natural ignorance of 
our intentions, and an entirely comprehensible fear of 
the unknown, spread like wildfire throughout the 
archipelago, both before and after the fall of Spain. 
Hysterically excited, as these fears were, by the 
proclamations of the Spanish civil governors, and 
by the eloquent and jjathetic allocutions from the 
clergy to the people, no less than by a certain section 
of the American press, as well as by no small number 
of our own public men of high character and sincere 


* See Appendix. 



4 


conviction, whose utterances were translated into the 
native dialects and spread broadcast throughout the 
Islands, it would have been strange indeed had Ameri¬ 
can sovereignty in the Philippine Islands been ac¬ 
cepted without a struggle. 

But it is not my purpose here to-night to pass in 
review the events connected with our late war in the 
Philippines, nor yet to enter into any discussion of 
the various phases of administrative detail which have 
accompanied the wonderful, and essentially successful, 
efforts of the Taft Commission to bring orderly govern¬ 
ment out of the political chaos which prevailed in the 
Philippine archipelago when first we took possession. 
Suffice it to say that from my study of the reports of 
the Commission, with the array of facts therein simply 
and unostentatiously set forth, I believe that in the 
whole range of colonial administration throughout the 
world, there is no equal record of so much constructive 
w r ork of the highest order accomplished in so short a 
time in the face of such apparently insurmountable 
difficulties. 

Leaving aside, however, all questions of detail, let 
me now invite your attention to the consideration of 
certain broad principles of governmental policy which, 
in my judgment, must be recognized and adhered to, 
whatever party may be in power in our own country, if 
our present, and it may well be future, tropical co¬ 
lonial problems are to be successfully solved. 

If you will take a map of the world, or better still a 
terrestial globe, and girdle the earth with the parallel 
lines of the 30th degrees of north and south latitude, 
you will have contained therein what is generally 
known as the “ heat belt ”, wherein the average mean 
temperature throughout the year is 6&° Fahrenheit. 
Within this belt, enclosed by the lines running about 


5 


twenty-three and a half degrees north and south, lie 
the tropics proper, with a much higher mean tempera¬ 
ture. The enervating character of the climate, com¬ 
bined with the bounty of nature, which supplies the 
limited wants of the natives in return for little labor, 
has from time immemorial produced a population es¬ 
sentially inefficient as compared with that of the tem¬ 
perate zone. Beyond, on each side, north and south, 
up and down to the 30th degrees, lies a zone somewhat 
loosely called the sub-tropics. Within this sub-tropical 
territory climatic conditions are for the most part suf¬ 
ficiently similar to the tropics to make such general¬ 
izations, if correct, as hereinafter follow, approxi¬ 
mately applicable. Taking then the whole heat belt as 
a starting point, an inspection of the map will dis¬ 
close, speaking broadly, the following geographical 
facts : 

Within this belt, in the western hemisphere, will be 
found most of the peninsula of Florida, the West India 
Islands, Mexico, Central America and the territorial 
bulk of South America. 

In the eastern hemisphere lie practically the whole 
of Africa, the extreme north and south being alone ex¬ 
cluded, a large part of Arabia, southern Persia, 
Baluchistan, nearly the whole of India, Burmah, Siam, 
and the Malay Peninsula, French Indo China, southern 
China, the islands of the Indian Ocean, including the 
Philippines, and Oceanica, those myriad islands of 
the Pacific, embracing Hawaii. To this vast domain 
should be added, in the southern hemisphere, northern 
Australia. The Philippine Islands lie entirely within 
the tropics proper. 

The objective point of my address this evening will 
be the development, of necessity in barest outline, of 
the four following propositions in connection with the 


6 


future orderly progress of this vast area of human 
activity. 

First. That the importance of tlie tropics in their 
relations to tlie temperate zone is constantly increasing. 

Second. That colonization from the temperate zone 
(with certain exceptions), of a character to appreci¬ 
ably alter present racial conditions in the tropics, is a 
negligible quantity. If this be true it follows that 
labor unions in the temperate zone, except from altru¬ 
istic motives, need not concern themselves with the 
labor problems of the tropics. 

Third. That experience has shown that stable 
government, carrying with it the impartial administra¬ 
tion of justice and equal protection of the laws to all 
classes of inhabitants, is impossible in the tropics if 
left in the hands of an indigenous population, without 
supervision. 

Fourth. That controlling economic conditions, ex¬ 
ternal and internal, no less than moral obligation, will 
increasingly compel the United States, as potentially, 
if not actually, the most powerful of the civilized na¬ 
tions, to bear its full share in the system of dependent 
tropical government and supervision, now recognized 
as an international factor of unquestioned and growing 
importance. 

In considering the first point, namely, the growing 
importance of the tropics, I will for the sake of histor¬ 
ical sequence, call your attention to the fact that the 
tropics were practically unknown to the civilized na¬ 
tions of antiquity. The Homan Empire, relatively the 
most extensive and powerful political combination 
known to the ancient or modern world, was never sue- 


7 


cessfully extended (outside the narrow valley of the Nile 
and adjacent territory) to the south of the 30th degree 
of north latitude. The invasion of India by Alexander 
the Great was evidently undertaken more in a spirit of 
military bravado than with any settled plan of perma¬ 
nent conquest. Both the Roman Empire and that of 
Alexander were consolidations of contiguous territory 
practically within the temperate zone, separated only 
by inland seas. The economic requirements of the 
time did not encourage, nor the naval and militarv 
strategic conditions permit, the continuous supervision 
of distant provinces in the tropics. 

But with the dawn of the modern era the whole 
scene changes. For then it was that civilized man, in 
discovering a new hemisphere, and vastly enlarging his 
knowledge of the old, made a still more important con¬ 
tribution to the forces of civilization in that he dis¬ 
covered also himself. To recite the triumphs of the 
Renaissance in literature, science, and art is beyond 
the scope of this address, but as germane to the sub¬ 
ject in hand it may be said that at the end of the 15th 
century, there was inaugurated, for the first time in 
history, the system under which we are now living, 
whereby the Caucasian deliberately set before him¬ 
self the task of dominating, directly or indirectly, 
everv corner of the earth’s surface which by its 

i/ 

products could in any way add to the wealth and pros¬ 
perity of the temperate zone. And into this vortex of 
competition for control the United States has at last 
been unwillingly, though irresistibly, drawn, for the re¬ 
lentless force of economic conditions, backed by a sense 
of moral responsibility, respects neither tradition nor 
sentiment, nor, ultimately, should it stand in the way, 
even the written law itself. 

The story of the initial struggle for world supremacy 


8 


among the European nations, though a familiar one, 
is so fascinating that it may well bear repeating liere, 
at least in outline. 

At the time of the discovery of America, and 
the passage to the Indies around the Cape of Good 
Hope, or comparatively soon thereafter, there were in 
the world just five civilized, consolidated, maritime, 
powers capable of taking part in the approaching 
struggle, namely, Spain, Portugal, Holland, France and 
England. 

Germany and Italy, hopelessly divided for the 
most part into insignificant and continuously war¬ 
ring states, were, for the purposes of world aggression, 
merely geographical expressions, and Russia, as known 
to-day, did not exist. Spain and Portugal were the 
first in the race, and through the genius and daring of 
their native and adopted navigators and adventurers, 
had, in an incredibly short space of time, brought under 
the flags of their respective countries, at least prospec¬ 
tively, the whole of the tropical world in the western, 
and no small part of that in the eastern, hemisphere. 
Later on came the Dutch establishing themselves, first 
as traders and then as sovereigns, in the most import¬ 
ant of the large islands of the Indian ocean, and there 
they remain to-day. Strange as it may now seem, 
France and England were the laggards in the race and 
when they woke up to what was going on around them, 
they discovered that most of the undeveloped tropical 
world, then considered of value, had already been ap¬ 
propriated by the three other powers. 

But without going further into particulars, or detain¬ 
ing you with details, it will be sufficient to point out that 
with many intermediate changes of ownership as the 
result of war, there are to-day, of the original five 
maritime European nations, practically only three left, 


9 


namely England, France, and Holland, which undertake 
to administer the government of a tropical country from 
the temperate zone. And of these three it may be said 
that the one vigorous, competent, and expanding sur¬ 
vivor is England. 

With the consolidation of Italy and Germany, thirty 
odd years ago, two new European powers have been 
added to the list of factors to be reckoned with in the 
solution of the colonial problems of the world. But of 
these it is evident that the part to be played by Italy 
must necessarily be modest, while the advent of the 
powerful and aggressive empire of Germany adds 
enormously to the complications which much must be 
encountered in the impending further division, in one 
form or another, of the tropical world among the 
civilized nations of the temperate zone. Of Russia it 
may be said that up to the present time her resources, 
international complications, and geographical position 
have been such as to wisely lead her to confine her 
energies to the development of her vast empire by the 
consolidation of contiguous territory within the tem¬ 
perate zone. In this respect she follows the example 
of the Roman Empire and that of Alexander the Great, 
and calmly bides her time for a descent upon the 
tropics by way of India, China, and the Persian Gulf. 

In view, however, of the necessary limits of this 
paper it will be impossible to further pursue the his¬ 
torical side of the evolution of the political and terri¬ 
torial relations of the temperate zone to the tropics 
within the past four hundred years. 

I must also, for the same reason, forego any attempt 
to trace through the centuries their economic relations 
from the time when silver and gold and spices were 
poured from the tropics into the lap of Europe, mostly 
by way of Spain, down to the more prosaic present, 


10 


when sugar, tobacco, india rubber, and a dozen other 
important articles of commerce form the chief staples 
of tropical export to the temperate zone. 

To establish mj first proposition, as directly indi¬ 
cating present conditions, I must now, however, invite 
your attention to some recent very significant and in¬ 
structive, if somewhat dry, statistics : 

The following figures are taken from a very inter¬ 
esting small volume by Mr. Benjamin Kidd, published 
about five years ago, and called “ The Control of the 
Tropics,” wherein the author has called attention to 
the enormous actual and relative value of the com¬ 
bined trade of the United States and the United King¬ 
dom with the tropics : 

Trade of the United States in 1895 with 


the tropics_ $346,000,000 

With the English-speaking world (not 
including the British tropics)__ 657,000,000 


Total with the tropics and English- 

speaking world__ $1,003,000,000 

With the rest of the world_ 535,000,000 

Gross total__ $1,538,000,000 

If we take the combined trade of the two great trad¬ 
ing nations of the world, we have the following tabu¬ 
lated result : 

United Kingdom trade with the tropics $690,000,000 
United States trade with the tropics._ 346,000,000 

Total_$1,036,000,000 


Combined trade of the United States 
and the United Kingdom with the 
remainder of the world outside Eng¬ 
lish-speaking lands__$2,365,000,000 


i 












11 


From the above tables yon will note that the trade 
of the United States with the tropics is more than 
three fifths of its entire foreign trade with the rest 
of the world, outside of the English speaking countries, 
and that the combined tropical trade of the United 
Kingdom and the United States amounts to nearly one 
half of their whole trade with the rest of the world, 
outside of what they transact within their own 

1/ 

borders, and with each other, and the English speaking 
colonies situated in the temperate zone. 

From an able and interesting article by Mr. O. P. 

* 

Austin, the chief of the National Bureau of Statistics 
at Washington, which appeared in “ The Forum” of 
June 1902, under the title of “ Our Growing Depend¬ 
ence upon the Tropics,” I extract the following short 
but significant statement : 

U. S. Tropical imports in 1870 —157 millions or 36% 
of all imports. 

U. S. Tropical imports in 1901—414 millions or 47% 
of all imports. 

From 1870 to 1901 the increase in U. S. population 
was 100% 

From 1870 to 1901 the increase in U. S. tropical 
imports was 165% while the increase in non tropical 
imports from all other parts of the world w T as 65% 

I have no desire, however, to further weary 
you with statistical tables. The above figures will, 
I think, have sufficiently demonstrated the first of 
the four points above set forth, namely, the increasing 
commercial importance of the tropics in their relations 
to the temperate zone, so far at least as the United 
States and the United Kingdom are concerned. 

Coming now to the second point, namely, the im¬ 
possibility of colonizing the tropics by white immigra¬ 
tion on a scale of sufficient magnitude to affect local 


12 


industrial conditions, I would call your attention to 
the few following facts as instructive examples of the 
truth of this general statement. 

According to the Philippine Gazetteer, recently is¬ 
sued by the War Department, there were in the City 
of Manila, on May 1st 1901, 2,332 Spaniards out of a 
total population of about 245,000. Manila being the 
centring point for the trading class, it would seem 
therefore an exaggerated estimate to place the resident 
Spanish population throughout the Islands, after a 
political denomination of over three hundred years, at 
over one half of one per cent. In the Dutch East 
Indies, the resident Dutch population seems to be 
even less. In India the proportion of resident 
European whites to the whole population is probably 
considerably less than one tenth of one per cent. In 
Venezuela, the Encyclopedia Britannica gives a pure 
Caucasian population of about one per cent. In 
Jamaica it would appear to be about two per cent. 
In Mexico, owing to climatic conditions resulting from 
the lofty table land formation, about fifteen per 
cent. In sub-tropical South Africa, this table land 
formation, combined with the discovery of gold and 
precious stones, must also be noted as a condition per¬ 
mitting and inviting development of the country by 
the presence of the white man in large numbers. As 
being in a class by themselves, I will reserve Cuba 
and Porto Rico for separate consideration. Speaking 
then in a general wa}% it would seem that the above 
figures fully sustain the second of the four proposi¬ 
tions hereinbefore advanced. Experience has taught 
the white man that he cannot do manual labor under 
the usual conditions prevailing in tropical countries, 
and therefore he avoids them. 


13 


In approaching the consideration of the third point, 
namely, the impossibility of efficient and stable 
government in the tropics, without supervision from 
the temperate zone, I feel that I am treading on some¬ 
what delicate ground, especially in view of the experi¬ 
ment, somewhat restricted though it be, now being 
tried in the neighboring island of Cuba. 

In view of the fact that the American people are 
likely to be greatly influenced in their opinion of the 
possibility of quad independent tropical self-govern¬ 
ment by the result of the Cuban experiment, it becomes 
important to examine with some care into the ante¬ 
cedents of the present inhabitants of the island. It 
must then be remembered that when Cuba was discov¬ 
ered by Columbus it was inhabited by an indigenous 
American Indian race, to which was given the name of 
Carib. Unlike the North American Indian these 
people were simple minded, mild mannered, and alto¬ 
gether harmless. But not over fifty years had elapsed 
from the time the Spaniards first set foot on Cuban 
soil before the whole race had been practically exter¬ 
minated. Following this indigenous population came 
men of Spanish blood, with the usual concomitant, as 
in our own Southern States, of African slavery. The 
peculiar adaptation of the soil for the cultivation of 
exceptionally valuable crops of sugar and tobacco, 
combined with the salubrious climate of the island, 
has enabled the white man of southern European 
stock to at least live, if not thrive, in this tropical en¬ 
vironment. What his capacity for self-government 
may be remains to be seen, but I submit, that, under 
the circumstances, the political and industrial situation 
in both Cuba and Porto Bico (the racial history of the 
latter being practically the same as the former) should 


14 


but slightly, if at all, affect our judgment in regard to 
other tropical countries still inhabited by the indigen¬ 
ous races. 

In attempting to forecast the future we must of 
necessity lia\e recourse to the lessons of the past, 
tempering our judgment by such modifications as 
changing conditions may seem to justify. 

In an examination, however, of governmental condi¬ 
tions, which, from time immemorial have existed in the 
tropics I can find no instance of orderly self-govern¬ 
ment, with representative institutions, evolved from the 
people themselves. Nor, on the other hand, have the 
efforts made by England in recent times to introduce 
responsible self-government in her tropical dependen¬ 
cies given any encouragement that the issue of such 
experiments will prove sucessful. The mental, moral, 
and economic factors are all at variance with the con¬ 
ditions required for an orderly, self-governing, commu¬ 
nity. Of the millions of men who now occupy, and of 
the untold millions, wlio, since recorded time, have been 
the indigenous inhabitants of the tropics, I think it 
may be safely said that no one commanding figure, 
judged by world standards, has ever emerged from the 
mass to challenge the admiration of the world as a 
benefactor of mankind. 

The one exception that occurs to me, somewhat 
ominous though it be, is Mohammed, born just under 
the tropic of Cancer. What his influence for good 
or evil may have been, or now is, I cannot at present 
attempt to inquire. Gautama was born in the sub¬ 
tropics, at the foot of the Himalaya mountains. Con¬ 
fucius was the product of the temperate zone. 

But in art and science, literature and law, in construct¬ 
ive statesmanship, and in the scientific regulation of the 


15 


relations of men toward each other in all the complex¬ 
ities which go to make up what is known as civilized 
society, we must look, with two or three interesting 
primitive exceptions in the sub-tropics, to the in¬ 
habitants of the temperate zone alone for the accom¬ 
plishment of valuable results. 

For the creation of a self-governing community, in 
which the rights of all classes shall be respected, I 
conceive there are necessary at least four precedent 
conditions : 

1. A general recognition of the dignity of manual 
labor. 

2. The existence of an intelligent public opinion, as 
a court of final appeal, whose mandate must be obeyed. 

3. A willingness on the part of the minority to sub¬ 
mit, without question, to the will of the majority as 
legally expressed at the polls. 

4. The existence of an incorruptible judiciary to im¬ 
partially administer the law in the interest of the weak 
no less than in that of the strong. 

The limits of this paper will not permit an examina¬ 
tion in detail into these four sub-propositions, but I 
submit that not even the most ardent advocate of self- 
government in the tropics can successfully maintain 
that any of these four precedent conditions, either sep¬ 
arated or in combination, now exist, or, within any 
appreciable time, are likely to exist among the indi¬ 
genous inhabitants of the tropics. 

With a full recognition of the incompleteness with 
which, through lack of time, I have been compelled to 


16 


treat tlie first three main propositions hereinbefore set 
forth, I now come to the fourth, namely, the develop¬ 
ment of the future relations of the United States with 
the tropics. 

Of this question it may be said that since our Civil 
War none so vital has confronted the American people, 
and in the course of its solution may well be found 
practically all the future danger points which must 
ever beset a progressive nation in the conduct of its 
political relations with the rest of the world. 

Before proceeding, however, let me say that I ap¬ 
proach the subject in no so-called jingo spirit, but 
rather with a sincere desire to offer suggestions which 
shall be based upon what I conceive to be the true 
interest of the tropical peoples themselves. 

In considering the development of inter-racial re¬ 
lations between the dominant and inferior races, during 
the past century, one cannot but be impressed by the 
fact that the current has been distinctly in the direction 
of altruism. 

Slavery has been abolished throughout Christendom, 
and oppression, injustice, and internecine strife have, 
more and more, been giving place to orderly govern¬ 
ment throughout the tropical dependencies ruled from 
the temperate zone. 

Warren Hastings would be a grotesque anachronism 
in the India of to-day, while venal Spanish colonial 
governors in Cuba, Porto Bico, and the Philippines al¬ 
ready seem to belong to a by-gone age. 

Powerful as was the factor of self protection in our 
late war with Spain, a sense of moral obligation alone 
made that war popular. 

But in considering the moral we must not forget the 
economic side of the question. 

As we note the progress of society through its vari- 


17 


oils stages of evolution, there is nothing more striking 
than the constantly increasing importance, during the 
past fifty years, of the economic phase of international 
relations. In the presence of the mighty forces of 
nature which the genius of man has so recently en¬ 
listed upon his side in his struggle for existence, con¬ 
ditions have been created which so alter and modify 
these relations that it is difficult for us to adjust our 
selves to the new order of things. 

Wealth is but the surplus product of man’s conquest 
of nature, and to what extent that has been accom¬ 
plished within the life time of the youngest member of 
this audience is a matter within the common knowledge 
of us all. 

But the source of all this superabundant energy and 
resultant accomplishment has been in the temperate 
zone, and now, as never before, it seeks outlets in the 
furthest corners of the earth. With the vast increase 
in the wealth of the dominant races, an ever increas¬ 
ing demand is being made upon every heretofore out¬ 
lying province of the world to furnish whatever it can 
best produce, and receive in return therefor the pro¬ 
ducts of the temperate zone. 

And if for any reason this production and consump¬ 
tion are retarded by internal disorder, or conditions 
that science or skill can remedy, then these northern 
cormorants for economic results insist upon furnishing 
the remedy. 

Within our own time the earth has, for all practical 
purposes of intercommunication, immeasurably 
shrivelled and has, in very fact, become a vast “ whisper¬ 
ing gallery ” wherein the slightest sound wdiicli tends 
either to menace its peace or promote its prosperity is 
heard with the celerity of the lightning on which the 
message is borne. 


18 


And now, within the past few months, the isolation 
of the sea itself no longer affords repose. 

The above general statement of actual conditions 
furnishes, I believe, the key note for most of the in¬ 
ternational political activity we now see about us. 

To bring order out of chaos for the purpose of per¬ 
mitting the normal economic development of a tropical 
island at our very doors was at least one of the avow r ed 
objects of our late war with Spain. 

In the train of that w r ar followed, in natural sequence, 
our occupation of the Philippine islands, for in the re¬ 
distribution of territory and spheres of influence, since 
the beginning of the decay of Spain’s colonial empire, 
both in the temperate and tropic zone, the United 
States has been continuously, since the foundation of 
our government, Spain’s actual and logical heir. Cuba, 
Porto Rico, and the Philippines are but corallaries of 
Florida and the original Spanish North American terri¬ 
tory which came to us by forced cession after the Mex¬ 
ican war. 

To what lengths the combination of economic 
necessity and moral obligation may yet compel the 
United States to go, no one may with safety pre¬ 
dict, but I submit we cannot stand still. With the 
completion of the isthmian canal, and the resultant 
increase in tropical trade, or peradventure much 
sooner, the American people will, I apprehend, be 
called upon to decide whether they will abandon the 
limitations or extend the scope of the Monroe Doctrine. 
This doctrine, though political in origin and form is, I 
conceive, in its ultimate analysis, economic in fact, and 
is so recognized by the European powers. 

The upholding of a political idea, labelled repub¬ 
lican, but in reality anarchic or despotic, and which is 
not only practically barren of beneficial results, but 





19 


stands rather as a menace to the economic advance¬ 
ment of the world, will, I am inclined to believe, 
appeal less and less to the practical side of the Amer¬ 
ican character. When the present situation is more 
fully realized, we may well come to the parting of the 
ways, and the question that may yet divide our own 
political parties will be our attitude toward the 
countries to the south of us in the western hemis¬ 
phere. What that attitude may be, will, I think, 
depend largely, so far as the approximate future is con¬ 
cerned, upon the success or failure of our present ex¬ 
periment in the Philippine islands. 

Should results falsify the prophets of evil who have 
declared that the government of a tropical dependency 
is beyond the legitimate sphere of a democratic Re¬ 
public, then I believe we will venture still further into 
the troubled waters of tropical governmental super- ' 
vision, following in the footsteps of England. 

A resident American minister, with a position some¬ 
what akin, in a general way, to that of an English ad¬ 
viser to the ruler of a quasi independent tropical state, 
may not be an attractive spectacle either to the inhab¬ 
itants of equatorial Central and South American re¬ 
publics, nor to ourselves, and yet the political and eco¬ 
nomic requirements of the future may, like misery, 
make strange bed-fellows. As between such a solution 
and the introduction of European ascendency in South 
America, should such an alternative be presented, as 
well it may be, I assume that the American people 
would not long hesitate. The recent evolution, in an 
emergency in Venezuela, of the American minister to 
the position of plenipotentiary on behalf of the power 
to which he had been but co-equally accredited, sug¬ 
gests the modern trend. 

Had an American “ elder brother ”, backed bv the 


20 


power of the United States, with the moral support of 
England, to be had for the asking, been a recognized 
factor in shaping the internal affairs of Venezuela 
during the past generation, there can be little question 
but that this unfortunate South American so-called 
republic would now be a much more desirable member 
of the family of nations, both from a domestic and 

•j ' 

foreign standpoint. 

That the commanding influence of the Anglo Saxon 
in controlling the policies of the world has been con¬ 
stantly on the increase during the past two hundred 
and fifty years is a matter of common knowledge. 

The annexation by England of the Dutch province 
of New Amsterdam in 1664, the full of Quebec and the 
battle of Plassey nearly a centur}^ later, our Louisiana 
and Florida purchases from France and Spain re¬ 
spectively, the expulsion of Portugal and Spain from 
South America, Central America, and Mexico, the pro¬ 
mulgation of the Monroe Doctrine, our Mexican war 
and territorial acquisitions resulting therefrom, the 
consolidation of the United States after our Civil War, 
the heeded warning to France to leave Mexico after 
that war, our purchase of Alaska from Kussia, the 
English occupation of Egypt, Faslioda, the recent South 
African war, our own late war with Spain, with all its 
momentous consequences, and now the building of an 
isthmian canal exclusively under American control, are 
all but closely related successive acts in the great world 
drama now being played before our eyes. Or, if you 
will, they are but grim milestones along the rough road 
leading to Anglo Saxon supremacy among the nations. 
And the end is not yet. 

The recent decisions of the Supreme Court of the 
United States iu the insular cases have left the Amer¬ 
ican people free to pursue, without internal complica- 


21 


tions, whatever policy they may conceive as best 
adapted to the future orderly development of their re¬ 
lations with the rest of the world. , 

From the days when Marshall first reared the 
stately structure of American sovereignty upon the firm 
foundations laid by Washington, no more far reaching 
judgment has ever been given by that august tribunal. 

Nor is that judgment, though rendered by a closely 
divided Court, ever likely to be reversed or modified, 
for, brought to the bar of an enlightened public opinion, 
it has been ratified and confirmed by the still more 
august judgment of the American people. 

But, untrammeled as our relations now are by the 
limitations of the constitution as affecting social con¬ 
ditions unsuited to its provisions, I believe that the 
national conscience, whatever may be our errors of 
judgment, will be ever on the alert to compel such 
legislation as shall be necessary and appropriate for 
the development of our tropical wards along the lines 
best suited to their character and environment. 

It had not been mv intention, in the choice of my 
subject for this evening, to further touch upon the 
actual conditions now existing in the Philippine 
Islands. 

In view, however, of the importance and interest of the 
subject, and my own earnest sympathy with the efforts 
we are now making to bring peace, prosperity, and con¬ 
tentment to the inhabitants of those islands, may I be 
allowed to say a few words as to our present, and what 
I conceive will be our future, relations with them. 

From my own observation of tropical peoples, and 
from an able article on the Filipinos, by Mr. Marrion 
Willcox in the North American Review of t Septem¬ 
ber, 1900, it would seem that the Filipinos may be 
fairly divided into the four following classes : 


22 


First. A handful of idealists, much given to copious 
quotations, largely from French authors. These 
^quotations deal, for the most part, with the abstract 
principles of liberty. 

Second. The mute, densely ignorant, overwhelming 
majority, composed of all the different races, whose 
only idea of government now is, and always lias been, 
obedience to those who have been set to rule over them 
by some higher power. 

Third. A somewhat wavering, partially educated, 
small minority, easily influenced, and without any very 
definite principles to guide their political conduct. 

Fourth. The Friars. 

To these classes should be added, I apprehend, 
though not mentioned in the article above referred to, 
a small group of educated men who have both the in¬ 
telligence and the will to make their influence for good 
powerfully felt among their countrymen. From this 
class have come the men whose aid and support must 
have been invaluable to the Taft Commission in its 
arduous labors for the improvement of existing con¬ 
ditions. 

Of the idealists it may be said that they exist in all 
communities, and though often valuable members of 
societjr, they are not likely to be men of much weight 
in the daily conduct of public affairs. In periods of 
acute unrest and widespread popular discontent, when 
some great social upheaval is impending, they are most 
likely to play an important part. Men of this stamp 
were conspicuous at the time of the French Revolution. 

To the second class, namely, the ignorant mass, must 
be mainly directed our efforts to ameliorate present 
conditions tlioughout the islands. 


23 


To give some idea of this ignorance, it may be noted 
that with a property qualification of two hundred and 
fifty dollars, or an annual tax of not less than $15, or a 
knowledge of the Spanish or English languages, or the 
holding of some municipal office under Spanish rule, 
the number of qualified voters would be somewhat less 
than two per cent, of the population. 

From the small third class, who may be termed the 
opportunists, we must, for the most part, select those 
to whom shall be confided, under American control, the 
practical details of local government. 

Of the fourth class, namely, the Friars, I confess 
myself sufficiently unfamiliar with actual conditions to 
shrink from hazarding any opinion as to what position, 
if any, they may occupy in the future. That they have 
done good work, as well as bad, in the past seems to 
be generally admitted, for to them is due such 
Christianization as at present exists among the natives. 

One of the principal defects of Spanish colonial 
methods in the Philippines has undoubtedly been the 
tendency of the Spanish priesthood to absorb political 
functions. As between the civil and ecclesiastical 
local authority, represented by the Presidente and the 
Friar respectively, the latter appears to have been the 
more persistent force in the administration of those 
affairs which touched most closely the daily life of the 
people. Now in the whole history of civilization, from 
the period of the Reformation down to our own time, 
there is no more distinctly written page than that 
which recounts the failure of ecclesiastical corporations 
to successfully administer temporal affairs in the in¬ 
terest of the community in which they live. 

You will remember that, in the early colonial days 
of New England and Long Island, such efforts were 
successfully resisted when even mildly attempted by 


24 


an effort to restrict the suffrage to church members. 
Taught by experience the wise men who framed our 
national and state constitutions were careful to guard 
the domain of the state against all danger of invasion 
by the authority of the church. But w r here, as in 
the Philippines, the relations of the two have been so 
closely intertwined through centuries of growth, the 
readjustment of their relations on American lines must 

ti 

be a difficult task. Roman Catholicism being the 
actual or nominal creed of over three fourths of the 
inhabitants, and likely to remain so, we must there¬ 
fore look to the Roman Catholic church in America to 
aid ns in the work we have undertaken. 

In regard to the proposed native Legislative As¬ 
sembly, with carefully restricted powers, to come into 
existence on January 1st 1904, whatever doubts or 
fears may be entertained as to its success, it w r ould 
seem a wise concession to public opinion in America, 
and also to Filipino sensibilities, that the experiment 
should be tried. 

Each nation which lias heretofore attempted tropical 
dependent colonial government has insisted upon con¬ 
ducting its own experiments in its own way, and I 
submit that the sooner we learn the various lessons 
in store for us, the sooner will we arrive at a satis¬ 
factory conclusion as to the wisest course to pursue. 

“ The English brain and the Egyptian hand ” has 
been Lord Cromer’s guiding maxim in the wonderful 
regeneration of Egypt during the yoast twenty years, 
and so I believe it will be found that, for an indefinite 
period in the future, the ultimately responsible officers 
of the Philippine ship of state must be American, if 
the crew, no less than the officers, are to safely con¬ 
tinue the voyage so auspiciously begun. But to fit 
them for their responsibilities the officers must be 




25 


trained and, following in tlie footsteps of England, we 
must have a competitive, stable, high salaried and 
absolutely non political colonial civil service, if we are 
to succeed. When the novelty is over, high salaries, 
and a recognized progressive career, will alone enable 
us to obtain the grade of men necessary for the work 
we have undertaken in the tropics. 

Of the important problems of labor and education I 
have not the time to speak. Each of itself might well 
fill volumes. 

I would however suggest that after we have selected 
the most competent men in our country to study, 
report, and make recommendations upon such specific 
questions as may arise in our tropical dependencies, 
we should be exceedingly loath to oppose their recom¬ 
mendations, though based upon economic or political 
theories at variance with our own. 

Mr. President and fellow members of the Suffolk 
County Historical Society : 

In this my address at the annual meeting of the 
Society I have sketched, if only in shadowy outline, 
some at least of the relations which I conceive to exist 
between the temperate and the tropic zone. 

That the development of these relations upon right 
lines in the future must be a matter of the deepest 
concern to the American people goes without saying. 

Of the correctness of my generalisations and conclu¬ 
sions you must judge. But whatever your judgment, 
this I know you will recognise, that I have earnestly 
endeavored to treat the subject in such historic and 
philosophic spirit as befits an occasion like the 
present. 

But, undimmed by the mist and haze of divided 
opinion as to our country’s future course, the central 
fact remains that in the past few years, in the eastern, 


26 


no less than in the western, hemisphere, the United 
States has suddenly leaped, at one bound, into a posi¬ 
tion of overshadowing importance as a leader among 
the nations in the present movement for the advance¬ 
ment of civilization, upon a higher plane of endeavor, 
throughout the world. 

And fixed indeed upon the eddies and the whirlpools, 
and not upon the mighty current itself, must be the 
gaze of him who can be led to believe that the greatest 
combination,potential if not actual, of moral, intellectual, 
religious, and material forces, since recorded time, can 
falter or turn back when once it has put its hand to the 
plough. 

Destiny and duty are no idle words. 



27 


APPENDIX. 


The following Allocutions, Proclamation and News¬ 
paper Editorial are taken from the Report of the U. S. 
Philippine Commission to the Secretary of War for the 
period from December 1st, 1900, to October 15, 1901. 

Translation—From La Yoz Espanola, a Manila afternoon news¬ 
paper, dated May 12, 1898. 

Allocution of Archbishop Nozaleda. 

The most excellent and illustrious archbishop of 
Manila has given out to his diocesans the following 
beautiful allocution, that needs no comments, because 
the grace of the ideas and thoughts treasured therein 
and the holy purpose which it contains do not admit 
of comment. 


TO THE FAITHFUL. 

The North American fleet appeared at dawn upon 
the fateful day to this our country, my beloved sons, 
lording it over our beautiful bay to accomplish in a 
few moments and in spite of the heroism of our sailors 
the destruction of our ships, and to succeed in planting 
in one of our strongholds, the blessed soil of the father- 
land, the enemy’s flag. Ye know who it is that, full 
of pride, thus trampling upon our rights, seeks to over¬ 
whelm ye, and ye also know what his purposes are. 
He is the foreigner who wishes to subject us to his 
harsh yoke ; he is the heretic who wishes to tear us 
from our religion and to snatch us from the maternal 
bosom of the Catholic Church ; he is the insatiable 



28 


trader who desires to enlarge liis fortune with the ruin 
of Spain and its possessions. 

Poor Spain, if the invader should succeed in his pur¬ 
pose. Poor Filipinos, the day that the North American 
establishes a permanent government here. Unfortunate 
Indians, subjugated by the people who lack the Catholic 
faith of Spain, who have not the maternal blood, nor 

the noble magnanimity, nor the community of interests 

¥ 

and of history, dating back to more than three cen¬ 
turies, nor the mixture of blood that circulates through 
the veins of many of us, who iu a hundred glorious 
deeds have shed it to our common defense, united by 
a common brotherhood, the sons of the mother coun¬ 
try and of the colony. Soon we will see an insuper¬ 
able barrier established between ye and your 
vainglorious masters. No longer will there be for 
you employment nor office nor any participation what¬ 
soever in the government and administration of the 
pueblos. Ye will become a separate group in civil 
life, ye will be villified as pariahs, exploited as mis¬ 
erable colonists, reduced to the condition of laborers, 
aye, and even to that of beasts and machines, fed with 
a handful of rice or of corn, which our lords will throw 
in your faces as daily ration, so that he may not be 
deprived of the product of your sweat, while he will 
be regaled as a prince, with the fruits and treasure of 
an estate that is yours and not his. Ah, and this is 
not all, nor the worst, for ye will soon see your temples 
in ruin or converted into Protestant chaples, w T here 
oh, sorrow, the God of eucharist is not enthroned and 
where the Virgin Mary, our sweetest mother, has no 
pedestal. The cross will disappear from your ceme¬ 
teries, the crucifix from your schools, as also the min¬ 
isters of the true God who made ve Christians in 
baptism, who have so many times absolved ye from 





29 


your sins, who have united ye in holy matrimony, who 
should minister unto tliee, console and assist ye in 
your last hour, and thereafter when ye are dead 
apply the last rites of the holy church. Ye, perhaps } 
with heroic faith and valor, will continue within your 
hearts being Catholics as before or firmer than here¬ 
tofore, who can tell. But what would become of the flesh 
of your flesh, your tender sons, especially after they had 
been fatherless in the midst of a Protestant nation, 
Protestant legislation, faith, teachings, and customs, and 
the free exhibition and propaganda of vice and error ? 
Ah, what will prevent there being within a period of 
half a century no more Christian practices or beliefs in 
all this country, nor that not one should be left here 
who would make a sign of the Saviour’s cross upon his 
forehead. Poor Filipinos, unhappy in this life and 
unhappy in eternal life. 

Fortunately, beloved Filipino people, at the roar of 
the enemy’s cannon and at the shouts of alarm and at 
the watchword of your governors, ye have understood 
all the risk that ye run. As one man ye will prepare 
your defense, and as one heart ye will lift your prayers 
to Heaven. This, this is certainly the only way of sal¬ 
vation. To arms! and to prayer as one man! To 
arms! because the Spanish people, though debilitated, 
when wounded in their patriotism and the defense of 
their religion, are capable of most glorious deeds. Let 
us pray, then, for even the strong and those who have 
justice on their side must remember that it is always 
a God who gives the victory, for it is not prayer alone, 
nor is it alone the battle—military effort and the help 
of God combined. God and his angels and saints be 
with us, for if it so came to pass, who can vanquish us ? 

Moreover, to the end that prayer may become more 
general in concord and more efficacious, it has appeared 


30 


to us an inspiration from on high the idea of consecrat¬ 
ing the sacred heart of Jesus throughout all the Philip¬ 
pine Archipelago, and to offer it when we shall have 
seen ourselves free from onr present tribulations, wor¬ 
ship of an exceptionally devout and magnificent sort 
upon the day when the church shall celebrate that 
feast, on Friday next after the Corpus Christi, the 17th 
of next June, or some other date, if that were impos¬ 
sible and should be considered more timely to post¬ 
pone it. By this and aside from the private consecra¬ 
tion of these islands, which we have already made on 
the first Friday of this month upon offering to God in 
the holy mass the sacred body of Jesus Christ, we did 
so, not only in our own name and that of our other 
diocesan prelates, but also in that of the most excellent 
governor-general, who, no less fervent Christian than 
prudent patriot and great military commander, awaits 
from God and now offers to God a triumph through 
the mediation of the deific heart, and thus interpreting 
the desires of the mass of the people of the islands, 
that is everywhere so devout, and invoking the inter¬ 
cession of all the patron saints of the islands and prin¬ 
cipally of the sovereign queen of all, the most Holy 
Virgin of the rosary. 

In the deep-rooted hope of solemnizing very soon 
this consecration and offertory, for the present de¬ 
prived from us, we give to all beloved sons our bene¬ 
diction in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of 
the Holv Ghost. 

•J 

Friar Bernardino, Archbishop of Manila. 

Manila, May 8, 1898 . 


31 


| Translation.—Extra Gazette of the 23d of April, 1898. J 

Office of the Government and of the 
Captain-General of the Philippines. 

Spaniards : 

Between Spain and the United States of North 
America hostilities have broken out. 

The moment has come for us to show the world that 
we have courage to spare to conquer those who, feign¬ 
ing to be loyal friends, have taken advantage of our 
misfortunes and have exploited our magnanimity by 
the use of means that cultured nations hold to be base 
and unworthy. 

The North Ameiican people, made up of all social 
excrescences, have exhausted our patience and have 
provoked a war by their perfidious machinations, by 
their unloyal acts, by their attempts upon the rights 

of peoples and upon international convictions. The 

\ 

struggle will be short and decisive. The God of vic¬ 
tories will grant unto us one that is brilliant and com¬ 
plete, as reason and the justice of our cause demand. 
Spain, that has the sympathy of every nation, will 
come out triumphant from this new trial, humiliating 
and dumbfounding the adventurers of those States 
who, without homogenity and without history, only 
offer to humanity shameful traditions and the spectacle 
of legislative chambers wherein there appear united 
insolency and defamation, cowardice and cynicism. 

A fleet, manned by foreigners without instruction 
and without discipline, is about to come to this archi¬ 
pelago wdtli the wild purpose of taking away from you 
all that implies life, honor, and liberty. The North 
American sailors pretend to be inspired by a courage 
of which they are incapable, and they appear to look 
upon as a feasible enterprise the substitution of the 


32 


Catholic religion, which yon profess, by that of Prot¬ 
estantism ; to treat you as tribes refractory to civiliza¬ 
tion, to possess themselves of your riches as if the 
right of ownership were unknown to you ; to seize, in 
a word, those among you whom they may consider 
useful to man their ships, or to work their lands and 
carry on tlieir industries. 

Vain designs! Ridiculous boasting! 

Your indomitable bravery will suffice to prevent them 
from daring to attempt, much less to realize them. Ye 
will not consent, no, that the religion which ye profess 
be scoffed at, nor that impetuous feet shall desecrate 
the temple of the true God, nor that unbelief shall de¬ 
molish the sacred images which ye adore. The ag¬ 
gressors shall not profane the tomb of your fathers ; 
they shall not satisfy their impure passions at the cost 
of the honor of your wives and daughters ; they shall 
not seize the property that your self-denial has accum¬ 
ulated to maintain your lives ; they shall not realize, 
no, none of those crimes begotten of their wickedness 
and avarice, because your valor and your patriotism 
suffice to frighten and overwhelm those people, who, 
calling themselves civilized and cultured, have resorted 
to the extermination of the aborigines of North America 
without making the effort to bring them to civilization 
and progress. 

Filipinos, prepare for the struggle. For, united 
under the protection of the glorious Spanish flag, al¬ 
ways covered with laurels, we will fight with the con¬ 
viction that victory will crown our efforts, and we will 
answer the intimidation of our enemies with the de¬ 
cisive action of the Christian and the patriot at the 
shout of “ Viva Espana! ” 

Augustin, Your General. 


Manila, April 23, 1898. 



\ 


33 

I certify that the above is a true copy taken from the 
Manila Gaceta on file in these archives. 

M. de Iriarte, 

In Charge of Archives. 
Manila, P. I., October 10, 1901. 


[ 'Translation .—From El Espanol, a Manila newspaper, issue of 

April 29, 1898.] 

North America. 

It is not my practice to attack the weak ; it is just 
the contrary; but when the weak takes undue advan¬ 
tage of the kindness with which he has been treated, it 
is well to call a halt and tell him. 

You are of obscure origin ; your principal nucleus 
has been formed out of soulless beings—the refuse of 
Europe. You have become, apparently, a cultured 
nation, but you have always kept at the bottom a fund 
of perversity. Your ideas can not get beyond trade 
and profit, and every means is legitimate so long 
as it enables you to reach your purpose; shame 
has never reddened your cheeks. Where there is no 
heart there can be no good and you are lacking it. You 
are the assassins of thousands of tribes of red skins, 
and the Mississippi has flowed red with the blood of 
vour victims, for your diplomacy has been that of the 
dagger, poison, and the stake. You do not know the 
rights of the individual, you have no other law but 
egotism, no other belief than that in money ; for filthy 
lucre you will sacrifice everything, you will sell abso¬ 
lutely everything. You call yourself the focus of civili¬ 
zation when you are but a few brands of the fire built 
in that cavern called the American Union. You are 
going to measure arms with a nation as noble as it is 



34 


great and generous, and whose sublime history is lost 
in the night of time. The world admires it because it 
is the land one people of which made ancient Rome 
tremble and has ever been admired and respected even 
to the present time for its valor and nobility. Your 
infamous traffic with your most worthy brethren of the 
Cuban brush, Maceo, Guillermon, Araggueren, and other 

traitors who ought to have been hanged as many times 

«• 

as they have been forgiven ; that traffic, I repeat, the 
world has knowledge of and the stain of ignominy 
covers your face as the mask covers every villain who 
commits a crime with cowardly impunity, because his 
cowardice prevents him from doing otherwise. Your 
ships, manned and stupidly handled by hands that 
tremble when they grasp the sword, if they should 
happen to come in front of our noble sailors, will feel 
like the prostitute who trembles with fear when she 
faces a virgin, and will flee with fear, for no being can 
be brave whose conscience is stained. 

It is a great sacrifice to have to speak to you in such 
language, people of the Union, but I do not do other¬ 
wise through the fear that you will not understand me 
if I use a more correct one. 

Our soldiers will go to Washington, and when this 
shall have happened, which will be very soon, I advise 
you to gather up the cast-off sandals of our soldiers 
and that you press them to your face, and mayhap in 
this manner you may absorb some of the dignity that 
exudes eveu from the feet of a Spanish soldier. 

Be not afraid. A large indemnity and a promise 
fiom you that in the future you will be decent people 
will put an end to the conflict. 

Your advisor, 

F. J. Ceballos. 

April 26, 1898. 


35 


[Translation.—From La Yoz Espanola, Manila, April 25, 1898.] 

Catholic Allocution. 

Yesterday there was distributed among the guards 
of honor and the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Virgin 
of the Rosary a touching allocution, by order of the 
archbishop of this diocese, that we have the pleasure 
of reproducing, as the protection of the Queen of 
Heaven is to-day more essential than ever before. 

The allocution is as follows : 

“ My beloved brethren in the Lord and in our most 
Holy Mother Mary : 

“ The time has arrived when it is necessary for you 
to show with special enthusiasm your steadfast Catholic 
faith, your fidelity to the fatherland, and your senti¬ 
ments of tender devotion toward the Most Holy Virgin, 
in whose Brotherhood of the Rosary you are inscribed, 
and whose guards of honor you proclaim yourselves 
with holy joy. 

“ This day, April 25, war is already declared, and it is 
possible that at this very time the navy and army of our 
heroic and Catholic Spain is punishing in distant lands 
the villainy of a people who, having for a long time 
abused our nobleness of heart, have obstinately turned 
a deaf ear to reason and have dared to insult our flag 
and to violate the most sacred rights of our greatly be¬ 
loved Spain. 

“ We do not know with certainty if the war will 
reach the archipelago, this beautiful portion of the 
Spanish fatherland. It may well come to pass, per¬ 
haps in a short time, and in view of this we must all be 
prepared to manfully struggle as Christians and 
Spaniards, and to die, if necessary, for the holy cause 
of loyalty. 


36 


“ To fight for one’s country is to fight for God, as 
He wishes that we sacrifice ourselves for it, and orders 
us that without hesitation aud conditions we defend the 
society whose sons we are when it is attacked and in¬ 
sulted. To die for one’s country is equivalent to dying 
for virtue ; it is also to die for God, for the Holy Mac¬ 
cabees have said : ‘ It is better to die than to see our 
country and our temples trampled under foot.’ 

“ Be good of heart, then ; be brave and have confi¬ 
dence. Our cause is just, is great, is most holy. The 
North Americans are heretics ; they are a people who 
have destroyed the Indian races that populated their 
territory; they are a people who have no true God, ac¬ 
cepting every sort of religion and false worship ; they 
are a people who against all reason and right believe 
that they can violate our divine religion, our laws, our 
property, and our honor, and wish to renew, perhaps in 
this land, their cruelties and murders of the aborigines, 

destroying the holy and civilizing work of Spain. 
****** 

(Here follows an exhortation to prayer.) 

Convent of Santo Domingo de Manila, 

April %3, 1898. 

By order of my prelate, Fray Zacarias Lizarraga, 
chaplain of the rosary and director of the guard of 
honor of Mary. 




37 


[Translation.—From El Espanol, Manila, April 28, 1898.] 

The archbishop of Manila , apostolic administrator of the 
diocese of Jaro, to his diocesans. 

s\ 

[Quodcumque Vouleritsi petetis et fiet vobis. (Joan 15.-7.) | 

In these moments of trial it is our duty to inform ye, 
•beloved sons, that your faith exacts from you the com¬ 
pliance with two duties—to pray and to fight. 

A heterodox people, possessed by the blackest rancor 
and all the abject passions that heresy engenders, pur¬ 
poses to attack us. They hate in us that which we 
most value—our religion, the religion of our fathers, 
left to us as a most precious legacy, that we are obliged 
to maintain intact, even at the cost of our lives. If for 
the evils of our sins God should permit the intentions 
of the aggressor to prosper, the desolation and ruin of 
our people would be complete ; soon would they see 
the heartrending spectacle of their temples razed, the 
alters of the true God profaned, and our religion swept 
away by the diversity of sects that the heretic banner 
protects ; the peace of our homes and all the wealth of 
our people, united and ennobled by the practices and 
teachings of the Christian faith, would completely dis¬ 
appear, impelled by the implacable hatred that our 
enemies profess for the religion and races dififering 
from its own. 

But no; the Lord will not permit the arrogance of 
our enemies to triumph. Our cause is that of justice 
and of religion ; we will therefore have God with us. 
And if God favors us, who can stand before us ? Let 
the enemy put his trust in his fleets and treasures ; 
we, beloved sons, guided by the light of faith, place our 
trust in God, who loves justice and abhors iniquity, 
who humbles the proud and exalts the humble, and 


38 


gives victory as He wills, scoffing at the plans of human 
presumption. For it is not the number of combatants, 
nor their warlike armament that decides the battle, 
but the courage of the heart that descends from on high. 
De coelo fortitudo est. 

Therefore, prostrated before the God of Armies, w r e 
will raise our voice in humble prayer to heaven, saying 
with the prophet : Lord, come to our help ; hasten to 
succor us ; renew to-day the prodigies that Thou hast 
worked in the past for our fathers. They went to 
Thee full of faith and hope, and Thou didst listen to 
their vows. Over them Thou didst extend Thy power¬ 
ful arm and saved them. Strong in the faith of Thy 
word they fought, a few against many, and won the 
glorious victory. 

Lepanto and the Sea of Mindoro are witnesses. 
There the proud fleet that threatened Christianity suc¬ 
cumbed. Here was the pride of the heterodox nation 
that sought with sectarian fury to humble the Spanish 
flag and at the same time disseminate among these 
people the errors of heresy, humbled. Here and there 
the brave soldiers of the faith battled with armies very 
superior in numbers that, notwithstanding, were beaten 
by our men, who were transformed into so many heroes 
by the sovereign strength with which God had in¬ 
spired them, as a recompense for the virtue of their 
holy prayers. Spain prayed, Filipinos prayed, our 
soldiers prayed. When the standards of Mary w r ere 
unfurled on the ships of Lepanto and on the impro¬ 
vised galleons of Cavite confidence knew no bounds. 
The prayer of the rosary raised to heaven by the hands 
of Mary was the sure earnest of victory. For that rea¬ 
son, after the triumph of the Virgin of the Rosary she 
was proclaimed the Virgin of Victories. Facts so per¬ 
suasive of the efficacy of prayer will be sufficient, be- 


39 


loved sons, we do not doubt, to prevent you from hear¬ 
ing with indifference the call that we have made upon 
you to pray. At all times the obligation of prayer is 
incumbent upon all. 

****** 

v. 

(Here follows a long exhortation to prayer, in which 
the faithful are told that the Lord will not desert them 
in their hour of tribulation.) 

May it be the will of the Lord, in whose thrice holy 
name I do bless ye, to confirm in your hearts feelings 
of faith and piety. 

Fray Bernardino, Archbishop. 

Manila, April 88, 1898. 


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